Request A Mentor

Why Mentoring Matters

Welcome to the Save Our Youth® Community. We’re excited to get to know the young person you want to nominate for our program!

Youth today are facing overwhelming challenges:  loneliness, mental health struggles, low self-confidence, finding healthy relationships, and more.

Mentorship connects a young person to a caring adult who provides individualized attention. We believe mentoring really can ‘save our youth’ by providing hope, encouragement, direction, and fun.

You are in the right place if you are looking to empower and uplift a young person’s life.

An Ideal Mentee

We serve youth ages 10-17 throughout the Denver Metro Area. It is critical that our mentees are willing participants in the program. We will decline any youth that we sense is being forced or pressured into having a mentor.

Our program is an exciting opportunity, and currently we have a waitlist of more than 90 youths. We are not able to guarantee each youth referred to us will be matched, and the wait time can be 6+ months. The good news is, we continue to have amazing mentors join us each week!

Mentees are matched based on location and proximity to a trained mentor, as well as an alignment of common interests and personalities. We are diligent in pairing a mentor and a mentee who we believe have a high chance of connecting with one another.

About Our Mentors

Every volunteer/mentor must pass an extensive interview, screening process, and several background checks. Mentors are between the ages of 21-85 years old.

Mentors agree to meet with their mentee on average once a week for a year. Our average official match length is 4+ years!

Mentors are recruited primarily from local churches.  We are a Christian-based mentoring organization, however there are no requirements for our youth or families to have a faith affiliation.

How It Works

Once we receive a mentee application, our Program Manager will contact you by phone, and your nominated child will be placed on our waitlist.

When we have a potential mentor who we are considering for your child, we will schedule a mentee interview at the youth’s home. We will share more about the program with the family and gauge the youth’s interest level.

If we determine the mentor is a good match for your child, we will plan a match meeting. Our staff will arrange a meeting with the mentor, mentee, and parents in the home. This is the first contact to kick things off!  Expect 4-8 weeks between your mentee interview and the match meeting.

What Type of Activities Will They Do?

Our mentees are blessed by caring and safe adults who will take them on community outings. We are able to provide free tickets for our youth to attend local attractions like the Denver Zoo, Botanic Gardens, Museums, Meow Wolf, Roller Skating, and more!

We encourage our mentors to explore other community resources: visiting the library, enjoying the rec center, and learning to ride public transportation to name a few. Plus we host special Save Our Youth events for all of our matches including a Family Fun Day, Back to School BBQ, Christmas Party, and much more.

A Successful Match

The support of a parent or guardian is crucial in the success of the match. A successful relationship happens over time. This is why we ask both mentors and mentees to initially commit to one year of meeting together.  Over time, the match will find a rhythm and common interests, and hanging out becomes very natural, like a friendship.

Our mentors are volunteers and are not experts in child and adolescent development, so we cannot accept youth who are:

Ready to Get Started?

Professional Referral

If you are a professional referring a youth, please fill out this form. Parents or Guardians can skip to the application. Professional Referral

Application for Program

A Parent or Guardian must complete the application – click the submit button when you are done:

English application: Mentee Application

Para que el joven esté en la lista de espera de un mentor, el padre o tutor debe completar esta solicitud:

Spanish application: aplicacion en español

Our Denver Program Manager will contact you within a week after we have received your completed form.